Kevin MacLennan

Highlander exiled in Edinburgh. Head of Buildings Decarbonisation at Mott MacDonald. Enthusiast for truth.

[Joanna Cherry KC @joannaccherry]

A forensic breakdown of SNP finances under Sturgeon and Murrell. The leadership and their lackeys were terrified of this website and threatened any of us who retweeted it with expulsion from the Party. It’s not hard to work out why. This isn’t over yet.

[Kevin MacLennan @Kevmaclennan]

@WingsScotland Was really glad to see this. Not enough people giving you the credit you deserve for uncovering this farce

[Gethin Chamberlain @newsandpics]

Nicola Sturgeon was not “cleared by the police” - those reporting she was are wrong. It’s not how it works in Scotland. She was investigated, police submitted a file of evidence to the Crown Office, which decided not to prosecute. The police believed there was a case to answer.🧵

[Wings Over Scotland @WingsScotland]

The truth is it’s never been a Rangers* bias or a Celtic bias. It’s not sectarian. It’s always been both of them. It’s always been a big-teams bias, and it happens in every sport in every country.

[Susan Dalgety @DalgetySusan]

Perhaps the Scottish Greens should have done due diligence on Q before accepting him as a candidate. I am all for new Scots participating fully in civic life, but there must be rules. I love Malawi, I have worked and lived there on and off for 20 years. If I had moved there for a few years to do a degree, I would never have dreamt of trying to stand for election…if I had, some would have rightly dubbed me a colonialist.

[Ed Conway @EdConwaySky]

📽️ From Donald Trump to Britain's wind power trade body, there's a growing coalition calling for more drilling in the North Sea.
Raising the question: if we DID encourage more exploration, how much oil & gas could we actually get?
Our MEGA primer on the North Sea👇
Ps it's longer than usual, but it turns out this topic has SO MANY misconceptions. Time to put some of them right.
Let me know what you think

[Kevin MacLennan @Kevmaclennan]

@GeorgeTrefgarne I think this is an under appreciated factor. Have heard several people comment on her along the lines of “I quite like Kemi, she’s go something about her…” honesty has real cut through with people not super engaged in politics

[Aaron Bastani @AaronBastani]

Met a dairy farmer from Stalybridge in Denton yesterday to fix his phone. My height but with hands about twice as big!

He was incensed about recent DEFRA report saying the countryside should be less white. “We get on with everyone, why am I treated like that? They want me to go?”

Intriguingly he said he was sick of so many people in politics who are career politicians, or who don’t come from pre-existing trades. “Clear them out!”

When I said the Green candidate was a plumber he happily acknowledged that and said it was welcome. He’s most certainly not on the left, and I doubt is persuadable anytime soon, but there’s a huge hidden consensus on stuff like this across british society. It’s purposefully obscured by the political and media class - and is yet another reason for the parties to have primaries.

[Kevin MacLennan @Kevmaclennan]

@ClemCowton In the end I was given a budget price from a small firm who wouldn’t actually commit to doing the job, and I went for a new gas boiler at a quarter of the price. And the company I used couldn’t have made the process easier. That’s where we have to get to with heat pumps!

[Kevin MacLennan @Kevmaclennan]

@ClemCowton I wanted to install one in my home a couple of years back and I couldn’t even get the main suppliers to give me quote because the installation was slightly non standard (tho completely feasible)

[Kevin MacLennan @Kevmaclennan]

@admcollingwood My controversial idea is it should’ve started in Inverness!

[Aaron Bastani @AaronBastani]

Britain COULD have had a global telecoms leader. It could have built its own 5G, it wouldn’t need Nokia and Ericsson, let alone Huawei.

That company was Marconi. It died, in part, because in 2005 BT gave a contract to literally every Telco EXCEPT THEM.

Neoliberal idiocy.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Note to the BBC: the power of Scotland and why they deserved more respect than a cringey wave-a-thon on Spoty. Where to start? Second oldest footballing nation in the world. Developed styles of football 150 years ago still pursued today. No Scotland, no passing. Helped spread the joy of football around the world, igniting the passion in Brazil and Argentina. Helped nurture famous English clubs like Aston Villa.

Introduced keepie-uppie to Wembley. Gave the game the wonderful Baxter, Law, Johnstone, McGrain, Bremner, Dalglish, Hansen, Souness and more recently Robertson and McTominay. Gave the game managers of the calibre and vision of Shankly, Busby, Stein and Ferguson.

Brought the refreshing and well-refreshed mobile party of the Tartan Army to tournaments, fans who raise spirits and raise funds for charities wherever they go. Have an anthem that stirs the blood and the soul. Qualified for the World Cup with a performance of guts and goalscoring glory. Staged their own Puskas award competition against Denmark.

Guided by a modest, proud and quietly inspirational manager in Steve Clarke.
Who should have had the successful, charismatic McTominay on the Spoty shortlist. McTominay deserved more respect from Spoty. So did Scotland.

[Kevin MacLennan @Kevmaclennan]

@WingsScotland Me too. He deserves it

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

"Inflation rise takes the UK closer to debt-crisis cliff edge" – my latest @Telegraph column

Britain is heading for a very serious fiscal crisis – not unlike the 1976 fiasco which saw this country go "cap in hand" to the International Monetary Fund for a bail-out.

Government borrowing costs are now higher than they were in 1998 - but the national debt is some 3-times bigger as a share of GDP than it was back then.

That's why the government's debt interest bill is now so massive – twice what we spend on defence each year, more than we spend on schools.

PLUS: Over two-thirds of the money the government is borrowing each year is now being spent on interest payments on already outstanding debt.

AND: The UK's uniquely high share of "index-linked" debt – with interest payments that go up with RPI inflation – means that as inflation rises, our already crippling debt service costs rise even more.

The vast majority of our political and media class are either incapable of understanding the now brightly-flashing warning signs - signs I have outlined in the Telegraph and elsewhere many, many times – or are determined to ignore them if they do.

What I am saying isn't party political, nor about left and right or who has the right "values".

It's about trying to avert a major fiscal meltdown and related systemic crisis - which will cause huge economic and societal damage, and during which the least well off will suffer most.

Please read and share this thread

🧵1/11

https://t.co/13L00elAw4

[William Clouston SDP @WilliamClouston]

An instructive summary of state finances by @EdConwaySky. Labour are nowhere near putting things onto a sound footing - indeed they are making things worse.

One way or another this will affect everyone…

[Kevin MacLennan @Kevmaclennan]

@WingsScotland Paul Simon?

[James Rebanks @herdyshepherd1]

I wrote a thing.

(And, for clarity, I don’t want any kind of revolt, I want to stay home and do my job) https://t.co/ur5ozjKo7G

[Ian Dunt @IanDunt]

This Freedland piece on Sudan is required reading. Countless dead. Murderous racism. And yet no-one gives a damn, because it doesn't suit our simplistic narratives. https://t.co/P7HpmsShqP